Freedom In Sonny's Blues, By James Baldwin

What is freedom? Many people define freedom as a natural right, the human is born with. I believe, we can be free only if we respect others rights to be free too. Freedom is an innate right which humans have since their birth. However, different people have different opinions and definitions of freedom. Some people talk about social freedom or personal independence, others may define it as a religious freedom. Once, Ronald Reagan said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed in for them to do the same.” In “Rose for Emily”, “Hop- Frog”, and “Sonny’s Blues” main characters are seeking and fighting for their freedom, even if it’s their last chance.

However, many of them don’t assume that freedom is not eternal. In “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, the narrator and Sonny are both seeking a freedom and release not only from the world, but also from themselves. The world they live in is full of darkness, drugs, insecurity, and hopelessness. It stimulates the narrator to writing his brother, has failed in his life. The narrator says, “I couldn’t believe it: but what I mean by that is that I couldn’t find any room for it anywhere inside me. I had kept it outside me for a long time. I hadn’t wanted to know” (125). The narrator believes that he cannot achieve freedom without Sonny’s forgiveness. Sonny, at the same time, is also seeking for a freedom, he want to be saved from the life of drugs that destroyed him. Finally, in the club, during Sonny’s performance, both Sonny and the narrator find that freedom they’ve been seeking, even if it’s